Biodiversity and business: strategic planning for nature-positive growth in Bangladesh's industrial expansion

Abstract

Over the last two decades, Bangladesh has experienced rapid industrial development, contributing significantly to the country's GDP growth. However, this expansion has often been accompanied by biodiversity loss, including deforestation, wetland degradation, and an increasing number of threatened species. As Bangladesh pursues sustainable development, integrating biodiversity conservation into industrial planning has become increasingly important. The concept of nature-positive growth emphasizes conserving and restoring biodiversity while promoting economic development, an approach that is gradually gaining momentum in Bangladesh through green investments and eco-certification initiatives. This paper examines the relationship between industrial growth and biodiversity restoration using secondary data from 2000 to 2023. The analysis considers indicators such as industrial GDP, wetland loss, species vulnerability, forest cover, the number of eco-certified industries, green foreign direct investment (FDI), and government expenditure on biodiversity conservation. Trend analysis is employed to assess the changing relationship between industrial development and biodiversity restoration over the study period.